Here I go again in connecting animals and history. My Jan. 20 letter to the editor headlined, “Whale sighting opens a window on the past,” was about the whale that was seen at Topsail Beach to which I added an historical angle.

During my research, I found in “Grandpa was a Whaler” and other references that Samuel Chadwick obtained the first whaling license in North Carolina in 1726. This was of great interest to our family because my mother is in the Chadwick family.

At the time of the Revolutionary War, our country had no navy; so, some whalers and others, became privateers — legal pirates — and a most unusual navy that helped to win the war. At the same time, they became fabulously wealthy. The details of this story are being recorded on my website.

As for the story published on Page 9, in the May 15 edition of The Daily News headlined, “Not really a Bear Island,” it was an excellent story with a picture of a bear running across the shoreline of Bear Island close to Swansboro. This was of special interest to me because I have been to Bear Island many times but never saw a bear there.

Most people know this area as Hammocks Beach State Park, and I know that many stories are involved that are much too numerous for the letters to the editor section. I will be writing some of these stories — the neurosurgeon from New York who purchased this property many years ago and then gave it to his hunting and fishing guide; the search for treasure; the discovery of a spectacular natural phenomenon, etc. on my web page — just Google my name.